Between July and September 2012, the UK will be the focus of world attention. Approximately 4 billion people around the globe will watch the London 2012 Games. More than 10,000 athletes are participating, 8.6 million tickets will be available for the Olympic Games, with another 1.5 million for the Paralympic Games. And 300,000 tourists are expected to travel to the Games from outside the UK.
By 2012, 1.3 million meals will have been served to construction workers, with a further 13 million meals expected to be consumed by Olympic visitors (the public, athletes, staff, volunteers, dignitaries and journalists).
Sustain is very keen to ensure that Olympic food promotes health and sustainability, wins new business for sustainable producers, and creates a fabulous food legacy. We want London 2012 to showcase the very best of healthy, ethical and sustainable food and to communicate this to a local and global audience.
Sustain sees the London 2012 Games as a tremendous opportunity to help transform the food system. We are already working on Olympic food issues. Our current priorites are as follows, to achieve:
- High health, ethical and sustainability standards for Olympic food.
- Involvement of small- and medium-sized enterprises in Olympic catering contracts, particularly in Host Boroughs.
- Positive messages about healthy food in Olympic marketing, especially where targeted at children and young people.
- A fabulous food legacy, including well-trained catering staff, plenty of food growing spaces and better understanding of health, ethical and sustainability issues associated with food - locally and globally.
